How to Troubleshoot Your Salad

Making a bad salad is easy: Throw together ill-matched ingredients of questionable freshness, and pour gloopy bottled dressing over the top. Bad salad, done. The good news is that making a good salad is easy too. Just follow a few simple guidelines and think about the components: You'll be tossing sweet with salty, crunchy with juicy in no time. Or look at our recipes—consider them cheat sheets, direct access to quality salad time.

BASESThe most important part of the salad is the base, whether it is delicate leafy greens, hearty greens, thinly sliced cooked or raw vegetables, or a combination of the three. Play around with different lettuces, vegetables, even fruits.

DRESSINGSOil-and-vinegar is a salad dressing at its most basic. But the oil can be nut, olive, grapeseed, or a combination of several. The acid can be in the form of red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, or lemon juice. The addition of creams, eggs, or fruits, like avocado, can sweeten or change the dressing's texture. If you want a little umami, add some soy sauce, anchovies, fish sauce, or Worcestershire sauce.